Reforms

The community services industry is under constant reform and transformation. As part of our role as the regional peak body, Community Industry Group aims to keep you up to date with reforms affecting local service providers, and provide you with links to other information.

Targeted Earlier Intervention Reform (TEI)

The TEI reform under the Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) aims to reduce the number of children reported at risk of significant harm by targeting services where they can have the most impact and intervening earlier and using evidence based practice.

The following programs are part of the reform:

Community Builders

Families NSW

Aboriginal Child Youth and Family Strategy

Child Youth and Family Support

Getting it Together

The reform directions paper, TEIP Program Reform Directions, released in August 2016 this year, outlined the new target groups for TEI services. They are vulnerable children, young people and families, with a particular focus on:

Children aged 0-3

Young parents

Aboriginal children, young people and families

In addition, the Illawarra/ Shoalhaven district has identified 3 other priority groups for the region.

Families with children 0-5 years

Young people, particularly 8-14 years

Refugees & emerging communities

Community Industry Group is participating in a consultative group set up in October by the local FACS district office to assist in the planning for the reform. The consultative group consists of peak bodies, local Councils and other relevant Government agencies to provide some overarching service system design principles, examples of evidence based programs, and assist in the identification of vulnerable communities prior to the local level co-design which will take place in 2017.

In March 2017, the Minister for Family and Community services announced the provision of three-year funding arrangements for all current TEI service providers, commencing 1 July 2017, until 30 June 2020.

Service providers will be operating under the same Program Level Agreement (PLA) they have been operating under from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018 and will then move to a TEI PLA from 1 July 2018.

As part of the Special Conditions within the new PLA’s, services will be required to negotiate a transition plan with their FACS district by 30 June 2018 which will identify what changes services will need to make in order to properly align with the new TEI program.

Service providers will then move across onto a TEI PLA from 1 July 2018 through to 30 June 2020